The Returnee

Panasonic has a long tradition of of mobile phone production which are on our markting known as a very durable phones and great pay/get proportion. Although he didn’t have many new models last few years and with just few new modifications he lost some users, he’s back with a new collection on a well deserved place. A part of a new wave is a model VS3 wich is a leader in some segments on the market, and will chear up old piligrims of this japanese trade mark.

Standard Package

In standard package which comes with a device we find mostly usual components but with one interesting item. Interesting is the posibility of changing the fromt mask but on a completely new way. User gets three different masks but also gets a magnet screwdriver which is used to taking off and putting some new masks on a phone. The idea to tighten a mask with four tiny screws is great because it prevents standard movement of the mask and posibility of destroying seperate parts frome cocnstantly movement of the mask which is usual at some of the phone providers which offer that posibility.

Contents of a package:

-mobile phone Panasonic VS3
-battery
-charger
-3 replecement masks
-tool for mask changing
-directions

Introduction

With this modeel Panasonic shown us what we concidered illusion just a while ago. That is fantastic display which enables us to view a perfect clear picture, almost equal the one on a personal computer.
Device has a clamshell form which is a standard at most of a manufactures (Samsung, LG, Motorola...), although Panasonic makes such phones allready (X60, X70, X700...).
VS3 comes in two colors which have been shown over past few years as the most popular on the GSM marketing – silver and black.
One of the interesting things on this devicec is also automatic opening of the phone which after few days becomes very practical and eases the usage of the dedvice with one hand.

Dimensions

Dimensions of Panasonic VS3 gets him into a group of a middle-large phones which has been used from many manufacturers to gain bigger circle of users, and especially ones which are not capable to maintain nowdays’ miniatures. Slight increase of a dimensions eases a lot usage of a device, and a device suits great in hand. It is important to mention that the weight of upper and lower part is almost the same, so you won’t have the feeling that the device has a tendency of dropping out. Dimensions are 96x46x17.6, and the mass of a device is 102 grams.

Menu

Like the most modern GSM’s menu is seperated in nine basic icons (3x3) which are guiding us to submenus which we find in a textual form.
Sequence of the icons is not changable, and by the entrance in the menu we are on the Messages Menu. It is also possible to use numerical shortcuts for tracking the favorite function quicker.

Sequence of the menu:
1) Games
2) My Media
3) Calendar
4) Camera
5) Messages
6) Web Browser
7) Tools
8) Contacts
9) Settings

Display

As we mentioned is the very beginning of introduction this mobile device stir us up with its display which is capable to show up to 16 million colours. Resolution is 240x320, and fisical size of a display is 2.2 inches. The device uses active TFT display and temporarely beats up all competitors in quality and picture showing.
While using it in daylight and direct light visibility of the display is very low but stays in exeptable measeures.
The making of
The quality of a plastic is at the Panasonic standardly made on a high level and concerning that we can’t find any problems.
The lap itself of a device shows that he is made solid and that shouldn’t have any problems in a future use.
A slight injustment is when a phone is closed because there is a little space between upper and lower part, but when the phone is open the upper and lower part are perfectly made so there is no doubt in any injustment.
The keyboard is made out of a hard plastic with a little resistance while typing but expressive click which gives us a sign that we have pressed that key.

Design

Panasonic VS3 is a part of a self-known high-tech generation of mobile phones which will be great in both men’s and woman’s hand. The device gives us a business look especially if has one of the masks in one dark colour. By the design of VS3 we can comapre it with a dedsign of motorola V3 wich is thicker only few milimeters but more narrow which will be more interesting to women population because of easyer manipulation with device.
On a front side of a device we find a camera,but no outter display which is usual at a clamshell devices,only LED light that indicates when we have a call or a message. Lack of the outter dislay is definitely one of the minuses on this device because now you have to open the upper part and press the answer key to recieve a call, so it extends the time of reaction of recieving the call.
We find a small movable part on a camera which can be set to take macro pictures of an objects from a very short distance.
Unusual on a left side of a device there is place for charger which is also used for a handsfree kit,and for connecting the device with a personal computer over a cable. A fillister is protected by the rubber cover which protects him from dust,humidity and other unwanted outter effects. On the right side there are keys for the volume while talking, IR port, and a key for quick cam which is also used as a trigger while the camera is active. The background of a phone is used for a loudspeaker and is made completely flat so that the device is easily caried in a pocket of a pants,shirt or any other way. On the bottom we find another LED light which is used as an indicator of phone charging.

Camera

Panasonic has brought in this model 1.3 mpx camera which is maximum resolution 1280x1024, and is possible to take a picture in following resolutions – 640x480, 320x240, 160x120 and 240x320. Video clipping is also possible in resolution 176x144, and device records video and sound. Fotos are great, sharp and with well shown colours. Althow it can be used as a short time exchange for a digital camera, pictures are best shown on the display of a device.

The example of photos captured with VS3:                                                                                                                                       

The device has SMS and MMS messages, and can store up to 500 SMS messages or up to 2 MB MMS messages.
Message maps are separated in Now message, Incomming and Archive, and fullfils all or the normatives of todays usage of messages.
 
Games
 
VS3 comes with two preinstalled games and one of them is adventure Sonic the Hedgehog known from Sega’s consoles from the begining of nineteeth years. Other game is a simulation of a football, and java support manages to get even more games over wap download or trransferring from personal computer.
 
My Media

My Media is submenu where the user stores his own contents, and is made of maps Pictures, Sounds, Videeo clips, Games and Draft text. The last item is memory status, and device have total 32 MB of memory which is seperated on those applications. Interesting is that the device posseses dictaphone which recordings can be used as a ringing sounds. The phone supports nowdays all of the usual file formats which we find on a mobile phone like jpeg, gif, mp3, amr, mmf and other.
 
Calendar
 
Phone calendar is made pretty simple with clasical reveiw of the flowing month in which is possible to store up to 100 alarm reminders.
 
Browser
 
In this menu we find wap browser with preinstalled item Panasonic Box which leads us to a page where registred users can take different contents on their deevice, like pictures, sounds, themes and other.
 
Tools
 
Quite moderate submenu in which we find alarm,calculator and sound recorder, and depending on the operater extra menu with functions for using specific functions at GSM broadcaster.
 
Contacts
 
Like the name speeks for itself, menu in which are stored all of the contacts from SIM card and telephone. The memory of the phone is 500 entrys, and there is also a posibility of transfering contacts from SIM to phone and from phone to SIM. Every contact can have a picture ID, and we can also create a calling group which we can recognize by specific ringing tone or light indicator of calls.
 
Settings
 
Here we find all phone settings concerning about calls, menu layout, recieving calls, phone security and other settings. As a speciality we must put a possibility of complete personalization of device with own backgrounds, whole themes, different colours of call indication over LED light, ringing tones and messages and other. There is a standard set of functions for setting backlight, display contrast and a menu for a call diverting, phone and SIM codes security. Inside of this menu is a sinhronization with a personal computer, connectivity over IR, information about connections and time and date settings. Of course VS3 supports a profile menager so that in every moment a phone will suite your needs.
 
Memory odds
 
The device is equipped with 32 MB of internal memory but without a posibility of extending the memory with memory cards.